My group's game today ended in an arguement over the interpretation of how Isengard sappers explode. I wanted to see what this forum's opinion was on this rule.

The situation was that a sapper company had four ents within 6" of it, and each ent was throwing rocks at it. Once the fourth hit was taken, the sapper base was removed from play and exploded, whiping out two of the Ents; one of which was Treebeard!

Does the saper unit explode in this manner or must the player explode it by doing so at the beginning of his/her move phase?

I haven't read the rules in a while but I'm pretty sure it's both. they can voluntarily explode at the beginning of the move or if they die they explode

I have the rules. If you voluntarily explode, you must first pass a courage test. if the company is wiped out, they explode no matter what. The strategy behind this is that voluntarily exploding means that you have them explode where there aren't allies but at the challenge of passing the test first. If you get killed by ranged fire and explode though, your opponent could possibly wipe out a larger chunk of your army if you have poor positioning.

Can you let us know which system you are asking about SBG or WOTR. See above post.

The fact that he says "company" means he's talking about WotR.

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